This collection of vinyl-related movie clips was put together by a chap by the name of Mennomail and is beautifully done, I must admit there were a couple of times when I found it quite moving. You couldn’t make something as lovely as this about mp3s could you?
Apparently there are 16 different films in this but I only recognize seven of them — Ghost World, The Shawshank Redemption, Billy Elliot, High Fidelity, (500) Days of Summer, Crumb, and Poltergeist. Can you do any better?
Surprised he didn’t include The Virgin Suicides though:
I’ve recently discovered the Roxy Music live bootleg “City Hall, Newcastle 1974″ which is an absolute corker, parts of it ended up in slightly more polished form on their official live album “Viva!” two years later but overall this is a much better set.
Listening to early Roxy live performances it always strikes me how a group of (mostly) art school boys whose music relied so heavily on arty effects and highbrow concepts like post-modern artifice (and had a lead singer who wore a tuxedo!) could also rock out like a turbo-charged rocket hurtling towards a crash landing on Mars. Most “art-rock” bands leaned too heavily on the former but Roxy managed to find the perfect balance between the two, they made music you could write an essay about and jump up and down to. They don’t just raise the roof with these they burn down the whole damn building.
The muse having deserted me for the moment (the bitch, probably lolling on a beach somewhere) I’m taking a cue from Davy and featuring some Francoise Hardy from her 1970 album “Alone” which is really just an excuse for me to post a picture of the wonderful sleeve. Isn’t that gorgeous? Speaking as a designer the best thing to do when you have a photo as great as that is just get out the way and let it shine without any typographic or designer frippery which is just what this does. I would sell my left nut for a copy of it on vinyl but can’t find one anywhere.
Francoise sings in English on “Alone” which doesn’t quite have the same, um, je ne sais quoi as her French recordings but it’s still awfully pretty. Doesn’t sound 40 years old either.
Being old enough to remember the 80s the first time around (and — gulp — most of the 70s too) I’m highly dubious about the sounds and styles of that decade being recycled. Having a bunch of young trendies breaking into the house of your youth and ransacking the place makes you want to give them all a good clip ’round the ear, then tell them to bugger off and get their own bloody music. Yes, I am going to read Retromania very soon.
But I do love Ladytron, probably because they do the decadent, We-Are-The-Robots-with-eyeliner thing so much better than anyone else and were doing it before it was hip so it seems like genuine love and not just jumping on the next cool thing. Their debut album “604″ is one of my favourites of the past decade and their new single “White Elephant” sounds like a step back to the sound of that record which is fine with me. The video looks like they’ve been watching “Vienna” a lot too.
The sentimental musings of an ageing expat in words, music, and pictures. Mp3 files are up for a limited time so drink them while they're hot.
Contact me: lee at londonlee dot com
